More Pressure Added On GTA Renters

The potential first-time buyers in the Greater Toronto Area are getting more worries as their hopes and dreams of owning a home comes crashing down due to the increased rents, with saving for a downpayment becoming even harder. Info from Urbanation states that the average rents of condos for the previous three months in last year went up by 11.7 per cent unlike the year before, having renters pay almost $2,000. The rate at which the rent was going up was a close comparison to the 4.2 per cent annual increased that was experienced the previous year.

Senior Vice President of Urbanation, Shaun Hildebrand said; “The undersupply of rentals in the GTA continued to worsen throughout the year, causing rents to surge alongside home prices and further deteriorating housing affordability across the region.”

The overall rental listings went down by 8 per cent with lease volumes down by 4 per cent in the fourth quarter from the year before, this happened due to the decline in the supply of rental condos in the GTA due to the fact that most owners were selling their properties because of the higher prices. In the year 2016, only 26,602 condo units were leased out via the MLS, with an overall decline of 2 per cent from 2015.

In the fourth quarter, requests for new exclusive rental units went up by more than 7,500.However, Hildebrand seems to worry about what the future has in store. He made an additional statement, saying; “While less pressure on rent growth may arrive in 2017 due to a temporary rise in new apartment completions, it’s become clear that more attention needs to be paid to building rentals over the longer-term,”